There seem to be quite a few stories swirling about the media about the “breaking news of the closure” of the mushroom unit in Belmullet.
The actual timeline of events belies any idea of news breaking.
Monaghan Mushrooms announced the closure to their workers in Jan 17th 2010 and told them the farms were closing and that all workers would have to move to Monaghan by June. The farm landlord was officially advised in April.
Said landlord Anthony Blowick built the Belcarra farm in 1991 and the Belmullet farm in 1999. At its peak in 2004 both farms were outputting a combined 5 million lbs per annum, and employing 105 people. Monaghan, by using phase 2.5, would have considerably increased those employment and production figures.
Since June 2004 Blowick leased the farms in their entirety to Monaghan Mushrooms. As Anthony now says; “We are looking for other growers and / or enterprises, but I am considering returning to mushroom production.”
